Mehtab Bagh or Moonlight Garden

“So…next?” Chawana asked me.

“Mehtab Bagh.”

This Moonlight Garden was added in list few days before I compiled our Tour Cookbook. Hubby told me that we can view the great Taj Mahal from here and this is the best place to view stunning sunset, as seen in Google Images.

Tips : A so-so-up-to-you visit place.

From Baby Taj, we rode a tuk-tuk, crossed the Yamuna River and passed by few villages that gave us a great combination of usual and unusual scene. A really packed lorry and they dried their laundry on the ground. I really amazed on how strong their immunization when they wear those clothes. Tak miang ke? (Didn’t they get itchy? Thousands of big and small animals must have been partying on the clothes huh!)
We reached the place less than 10 minutes and we paid the same fare that we have agreed earlier, Rp70=RM4.90. There were not many tuk-tuk stationed at this place so the tuk-tuk driver advised us to get his service, a.k.a, he will wait there until we come out from the garden. But thinking of the time limitation that the driver might be charging us, we decided to pass his offer. And there a cow looking straight to our face. Hehe!
At the main entrance, there wasn’t much thing to view, except for few street vendors who tried to capture our photo while we were busy capturing the signboards. Haha! We paid Rp100=RM7 each for the entrance fee and again, local only need to pay Rp10=RM0.70! So unbelievable, huh?We were then headed to the ‘most beautiful’ garden. The MOST beautiful garden??? Are you serious??? Chawana overheard this statement when one local guide explained about this garden to one of the visitors and Chawana was almost had her jaw dropped!

“My grandma’s backyard garden is much better than this…” Hahaha! We laughed. It was just a line of flowers with unknown 5ft trees that have white paint on their trunks, on both sides.We still didn’t see any visitors around the place. Maybe it was still too early for sunset. While walking, we started to notice ‘something’ big and white in between gap of trees, on our right.

“Is that…” I asked.
“AAAAAAAAAAAA!” We shouted.
“IT’S…IT’S…IT’S TAJ MAHAL!” We stunned.
Though we didn’t see it entirely, we still didn’t miss a chance to snap photos. Let it be the very first moment we saw Taj Mahal, with our own two eyes!

We quickly walked and made a right turn, and there we saw, for afar, THE GREAT TAJ MAHAL, THE SIGN OF PURE LOVE, THE…
“What? What is this compound for?” We wondered.

Putting the Taj Mahal aside, we started to make assumption.

“This must be the place where Shah Jahan wanted to build his Black Taj huh?”

“Maybe…coz it’s been said that it should be symmetrical, like another reflection of White Taj, where he should be buried when he’s dead.”
Self-made story and true fact mixed. Looking at the incomplete ground, Black Taj that should be built with black marble isn’t a myth. Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his own son, in one of the tower at Agra Fort, when his own son accused him for being insane and wasting country’s wealth. Aqilah, don't do that to your mommy and daddy. Let them travel all around the world ok?
I really don’t know whether I should be sorry for him or not. For me, Taj Mahal is just a mausoleum, one expensive mausoleum, and building another mausoleum? Hmmm…

ANYWAY, back to Mehtab Bagh. There was one stretch of border along this Yamuna River. Since it was the same river that we saw behind Baby Taj, the water didn’t change much. It was filthy and we can actually see trash, rubbish, garbage, junk, you name it, stuck on/at all over the fence. Owh man…
Few kids, aged between 3-5, one of them carried a half naked 12months baby, walked before the fence, begging for money from us. It was a sad, sad, situation…but we can’t give anything to them. Chawana had the most hard time, especially when she has Aqilah with her.
On the other chapter, we saw one lady in yellow, with her faced covered, stood alone at the river bank.

“Is she going to commit suicide?” We wondered. Coz she was standing there for more than 15minutes.
And she didn’t move.

Few minutes later, we saw one small boat, approaching. A guy manually rowing the boat, slowly, from the other side of the bank, to the side where the lady was waited.
“PERGHHHHHHHHH! SHAH JAHAN AND MUMTAZ! This must be how they meet!” We shouted happily.
Both, the lady and the guy had a few minutes chat. The lady still didn’t uncover her face. So we never get to guess, whether it was a inhibited love or not. The lady then walked back in the woods while the guy rowed back to the other side.

“Ok…Hindi movie finish already. Go back. Go back.” We laughed and walked back to where the Black Taj should be.

“So how? Guess no sunset today…it’s still early…”
“Plus, there isn’t ebb tide…”

“Let’s go find our dinner…there is one Pizza Hut near the Amar Yatri Hotel. That’s the most Halal food we can get.” Hubby and Chawana, both did a good job in finding info. Thanks to me, who happened to prepare a list of Halal restos for this trip, which were located at Shanghai and Perth!!!

Stupidddddddd! Agra restos in Shanghai and Perth??? Zzzzz…

Tips : Double check your list and ensure that all info is correct before you feel sorry to your own stupidity. If you think you can’t run from this stupidity, get someone who always read to travel with you.

We had a minor trouble in getting tuk-tuk, out from Meghtab Bagh.

Tips : Remember why the tuk-tuk driver asked us to hire him? Because of this. Those tuk-tuk that were stationed there will put higher fares. If you try to negotiate with incoming tuk-tuk, they will try to speak Hindi with the incoming tuk-tuk, to charge the same price. So, walk further up, try to negotiate as far as you can from them. OR ELSE,

“Where are you from?”

“Malaysia…muslim, muslim.”

“Muslim? Ok, ok, good price.”

We finally paid Rp60=RM4.20 after a hard bargain from Rp150=RM10. In Pizza Hut, we settled with spaghetti and pizza, both personal and large sizes. At that moment, I thought I had the MOST DELICIOUS food in my whole life. Hahaha!From Pizza Hut, we rode another tuk-tuk and with not more than 3 turns, we reached the hotel! SO NEAR MEH?! Ok, we better walk tomorrow.

We killed time by walking down the alley, watching street vendors who happened to expel Chawana away for taking picture of street vendor cooking. Ek elehhhhh! It wasn’t the street vendor you know, he just one of the customer! Penyibuk!
On the way back, one street vendor stopped us and asked where we coming from. In India, Malaysia is a very well know country to them coz they have family and friends who work in Malaysia. Yeah, those who work at mamak restos and IT-companies, where else.

And the funny part was, the stall owner actually offered us for weeds and marijuana! Hahahahaha! I can die laughing before I can ever finish smoking marijuana lah!
Co-travelers:
For history element, read Travelista's version here (in English)
For trip experience, read Chawana's version here (in Bahasa)